Available as an ebook at:
Amazon Kindle
Barnes & Noble Nook

The Land of the Elephant Kings: Space, Territory, and Ideology in the Seleucid Empire

by Paul J. Kosmin

Harvard University Press, 2014
Paper: 978-0-674-98688-6 | eISBN: 978-0-674-41616-1 | Cloth: 978-0-674-72882-0
Library of Congress Classification DS96.2.K67 2014
Dewey Decimal Classification 935.062

ABOUT THIS BOOK | REVIEWS | TOC

ABOUT THIS BOOK

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year

The Seleucid Empire (311-64 BCE) was unlike anything the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds had seen. Stretching from present-day Bulgaria to Tajikistan—the bulk of Alexander the Great's Asian conquests—the kingdom encompassed a territory of remarkable ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity; yet it did not include Macedonia, the ancestral homeland of the dynasty. The Land of the Elephant Kings investigates how the Seleucid kings, ruling over lands to which they had no historic claim, attempted to transform this territory into a coherent and meaningful space.

“This engaging book appeals to the specialist and non-specialist alike. Kosmin has successfully brought together a number of disparate fields in a new and creative way that will cause a reevaluation of how the Seleucids have traditionally been studied.”
—Jeffrey D. Lerner, American Historical Review

“It is a useful and bright introduction to Seleucid ideology, history, and position in the ancient world.”
—Jan P. Stronk, American Journal of Archaeology

REVIEWS

The Land of the Elephant Kings is unusual and original, and I have no doubt that it will find a large and appreciative audience. It is a lively addition to the literature on the Seleucids.
-- Nicholas Purcell, Oxford University

This fresh and thoroughly enjoyable account of the Seleucid kingdom is dedicated to understanding how one of the great states of the Hellenistic world was formed and how it actually worked. Although often understood as little more than a placeholder existing in time between Alexander's conquest of the east and the coming of Rome some three centuries later, Kosmin dispels such facile notions and breathes considerable new life into Seleucid history. Deeply researched and engagingly written, Kosmin's book will be required reading for all those interested in understanding the history of this crucially important and still relevant part of the world that stretches from present-day Syria to Afghanistan.
-- Joseph Manning, Yale University

It is a useful and bright introduction to Seleucid ideology, history, and position in the ancient world.
-- Jan P. Stronk American Journal of Archaeology

This engaging book appeals to the specialist and non-specialist alike. Kosmin has successfully brought together a number of disparate fields in a new and creative way that will cause a reevaluation of how the Seleucids have traditionally been studied.
-- Jeffrey D. Lerner American Historical Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

List of Maps

List of Illustrations

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

I. Border

1. India—Diplomacy and Ethnography at the Mauryan Frontier

2. Central Asia— Nomads, Ocean, and the Desire for Line

II. Homeland

3. Macedonia—From Center to Periphery

4. Syria—Diasporic Imperialism

Interlude—The Kingdom of Asia

III. Movement

5. Arrivals and Departures

6. The Circulatory System

IV. Colony

7. King Makes City

8. City Makes King

Conclusion

Appendix: On the Date of Megasthenes’ Indica

Notes

Glossary

References

Acknowledgments

Index

See other books on: Ideology | Land | Space | Syria | Territory
See other titles from Harvard University Press

Nearby on shelf for History of Asia / Syria / History: